Boom in electric vehicle sales boosts China's entire automobile industry

New energy vehicles or NEVs are hitting the fast lane in China, and the sector is expected to help the country's carmakers to overtake international rivals, analysts said.

In June, sales of electric vehicles or EVs and plug-in hybrids reached a record 596,000 units, up 132 percent year-on-year, pushing the overall first-half deliveries to over 2.6 million units and full-year sales estimates to 5.5 million units, said the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The robust growth will help China's overall vehicle sector to see positive growth this year, said Chen Shihua, deputy secretary-general of the CAAM.

Data from the Ministry of Public Security showed there were 10.01 million EVs and plug-in hybrids on the road in China by the end of June.

China started to develop NEVs in 2009 with subsidies, one of the earliest countries to do so in the segment, and became the largest market for such vehicles in 2015.

Since then, the country has ranked first in terms of production and sales for seven straight years, said Xin Guobin, vice-minister of industry and information technology.

Fu Bingfeng, secretary-general of the CAAM, attributed the sector's rise to sustained policy support and technological innovation, which led to growing acceptance among consumers.

Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that central and local authorities have put in place more than 600 policies for NEVs over the past decade.

They cover vehicle production, financial stimuli, product safety, as well as technological innovation and charging infrastructure.

Compared with international carmakers, local Chinese companies were among the first-movers in the NEV segment, so they are quicker to adopt new technologies and launch new models, said Edward Wang, a J.D. Power China analyst.

"Such innovation is injecting momentum into Chinese brands in a rapid, effective and continuous way," Wang said.